Depoliticising Humanitarian Action

Depoliticising Humanitarian Action
Author: Isabelle Desportes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2024-09-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1040097405

Is it ever possible to separate humanitarian action from politics? Drawing on the experience of both practitioners and researchers, this book is an essential guide to the thorny interplay between what are too often considered as separate worlds. The humanitarian sector aims to separate its work from politics, arguing that independence and neutrality are essential in order to gain entry into disaster and conflict settings. Yet, humanitarian claims of non-involvement in politics have also been dismissed as misleading, naive, or counter-productive. In practice, humanitarians find themselves working within political settings on a daily basis. This book investigates the theory behind depoliticisation, the political background and context behind humanitarian action, and the daily dilemmas faced by practitioners walking that fine line between principles and pragmatism. Finally, this book considers the importance of decolonising mainstream understandings of humanitarianism and politics, and of placing understandings from the Global South at the heart of the discussion. Balancing theoretical insights with empirical grounding, field examples, and recommendations for policy and practice, this book is perfect for researchers and students in humanitarian studies, political science, international relations, human rights, development studies, disaster studies, and peace and conflict studies, as well as humanitarian practitioners and policy makers.

Why International Organizations Hate Politics

Why International Organizations Hate Politics
Author: Marieke Louis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2021-04-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429883269

Building on the concept of depoliticization, this book provides a first systematic analysis of International Organizations (IO) apolitical claims. It shows that depoliticization sustains IO everyday activities while allowing them to remain engaged in politics, even when they pretend not to. Delving into the inner dynamics of global governance, this book develops an analytical framework on why IOs "hate" politics by bringing together practices and logics of depoliticization in a wide variety of historical, geographic and organizational contexts. With multiple case studies in the fields of labor rights and economic regulation, environmental protection, development and humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, among others this book shows that depoliticization is enacted in a series of overlapping, sometimes mundane, practices resulting from the complex interaction between professional habits, organizational cultures and individual tactics. By approaching the consequences of these practices in terms of logics, the book addresses the instrumental dimension of depoliticization without assuming that IO actors necessarily intend to depoliticize their action or global problems. For IO scholars and students, this book sheds new light on IO politics by clarifying one often taken-for-granted dimension of their everyday activities, precisely that of depoliticization. It will also be of interest to other researchers working in the fields of political science, international relations, international political sociology, international political economy, international public administration, history, law, sociology, anthropology and geography as well as IO practitioners.

Shaping the Humanitarian World

Shaping the Humanitarian World
Author: Peter Walker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1135977437

Origins of the international humanitarian system -- Mercy and manipulation in the Cold War -- The globalization of humanitarianism : from the end of the Cold War to the global war on terror -- States as responders and donors -- International organizations -- NGOs and private action -- A brave new world, a better future?.

Humanitarianism in the Modern World

Humanitarianism in the Modern World
Author: Norbert Götz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2020-07-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108493521

A fresh look at two centuries of humanitarian history through a moral economy approach focusing on appeals, allocation, and accounting.

The Politics of Humanitarianism

The Politics of Humanitarianism
Author: Antonio de Lauri
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781780768304

Humanitarian intervention has increasingly become the prevalent means of providing protection and aid at a global level. Yet alongside its success concerns have been raised that humanitarianism has increasingly become an economic enterprise and a political tool for controlling territories and governing international relations. In The Politics of Humanitarianism authors from a variety of disciplines provide a comprehensive critique of the humanitarian enterprise. How are those on the end of humanitarian action influenced by different epistemologies and applications of international law? What is the complex relationship between values - what humanitarian action is intended to be - and practice - what happens on the ground? Combining international case studies with critical theoretical evaluations, and including chapters on international aid, refugees, childhood and women's rights, The Politics of Humanitarianism offers a timely and critical analysis of the contemporary humanitarian system.

Celebrity Humanitarianism

Celebrity Humanitarianism
Author: Ilan Kapoor
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0415783380

This book examines the new phenomenon of celebrity humanitarianism arguing that legitimates neoliberal capitalism and global inequality.

Understanding Collective Political Violence

Understanding Collective Political Violence
Author: Y. Guichaoua
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2011-11-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780230285460

Understanding Collective Political Violence offers a unique view on contemporary processes of violent political mobilization across continents: Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle East. It pays particular attention to unconventional combatants such as women or children and details the drivers of their violent engagement.

Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations

Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations
Author: Thomas Davies
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 933
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351977490

Offering insights from pioneering new perspectives in addition to well-established traditions of research, this Handbook considers the activities not only of advocacy groups in the environmental, feminist, human rights, humanitarian, and peace sectors, but also the array of religious, professional, and business associations that make up the wider non-governmental organization (NGO) community. Including perspectives from multiple world regions, the book takes account of institutions in the Global South, alongside better-known structures of the Global North. International contributors from a range of disciplines cover all the major aspects of research into NGOs in International Relations to present: a comprehensive overview of the historical evolution of NGOs, the range of structural forms and international networks coverage of major theoretical perspectives illustrations of how NGOs are influential in every prominent issue-area of contemporary International Relations evaluation of the significant regional variations among NGOs and how regional contexts influence the nature and impact of NGOs analysis of the ways NGOs address authoritarianism, terrorism, and challenges to democracy, and how NGOs handle concerns surrounding their own legitimacy and accountability. Exploring contrasting theories, regional dimensions, and a wide range of contemporary challenges facing NGOs, this Handbook will be essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

The Ideational Approach to Populism

The Ideational Approach to Populism
Author: Kirk A. Hawkins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351768506

Populism is on the rise in Europe and the Americas. Scholars increasingly understand populist forces in terms of their ideas or discourse, one that envisions a cosmic struggle between the will of the common people and a conspiring elite. In this volume, we advance populism scholarship by proposing a causal theory and methodological guidelines – a research program – based on this ideational approach. This program argues that populism exists as a set of widespread attitudes among ordinary citizens, and that these attitudes lie dormant until activated by weak democratic governance and policy failure. It offers methodological guidelines for scholars seeking to measure populist ideas and test their effects. And, to ground the program empirically, it tests this theory at multiple levels of analysis using original data on populist discourse across European and US party systems; case studies of populist forces in Europe, Latin America, and the US; survey data from Europe and Latin America; and experiments in Chile, the US, and the UK. The result is a truly systematic, comparative approach that helps answer questions about the causes and effects of populism.

Authoritarian Practices and Humanitarian Negotiations

Authoritarian Practices and Humanitarian Negotiations
Author: Andrew J Cunningham
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2023-12-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1003810152

This book examines authoritarian practices in relation to humanitarian negotiations. Utilising a wide variety of perspectives and examining a range of contexts, the book considers how humanitarians assess and engage with authoritarian practices and negotiate access to populations in danger. Chapters provide insights at the macro, meso, and micro levels through case studies on the international and domestic legal and political framing of humanitarian contexts (Xinjiang, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Russia, and Syria), as well as the actual practice of negotiating with authoritarian regimes (Ethiopia). A theoretical grounding is provided through chapters elaborating on the ethics and trust-building dimensions of humanitarian negotiations, and an overview chapter provides a theoretical framework through which to analyse humanitarian negotiations against the backdrop of different types of authoritarian practices. This book provides a wide-ranging view which broadens the frame of reference when considering how humanitarians view and engage with authoritarian practices. The objective is to both put these contexts into conceptual order and provide a firm theoretical basis for understanding the politics of humanitarian negotiations in such difficult contexts. This book is useful for those studying international politics and humanitarian studies, as well as for practitioners seeking to better systematise their humanitarian negotiations.